Product Description

The bestselling authors of Weapons of Mass Deception expose how the "right-wing conspiracy," as represented by the GOP and its mouthpieces in media, lobbying groups, and the legal system, is undermining dissent and squelching pluralistic politics in America.

The U.S. economy is on the ropes, fear grips the nation, and we are embroiled in two overseas military quagmires with no end in sight. Outside its borders, the United States is hated and feared as never before.

For the first time in living memory, a single party-the Republicans-controls every major institution of the federal government: the White House, the Supreme Court, the Senate and House of Representatives-not to mention the "fourth branch of government," the mass media. How did this come to pass?

Banana Republicans reveals how the national GOP maintains its hold on power through the systematic manipulation of the electoral system, the courts, the media, and the lobbying establishment. The book examines:

* The legacy of the Florida ballot scandal, and how it has played out in the recall movement in California-and other states, where recall efforts are under way-and in the redistricting controversy in Texas.
* How a GOP echo chamber systematically spreads its views through conservative media giants-e.g., Clear Channel, Fox-and highly placed columnists, journalists, and opinion makers.
* How the Bush administration is loading the federal courts with a generation of demagogues, and smearing the names of legislators who attempt to stand in its way. * How House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has strong-armed traditional lobbying firms into exclusively hiring Republicans, so that even K Street is political, rather than merely opportunistic.
* How the GOP has equated dissent with treason-e.g., Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld accusing war critics of abetting terrorism.
* How the Bush administration uses its power to punish dissent, such as the leaking of a CIA agent's name to the press, and unprecedented lawsuits against activist organizations such as Greenpeace.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1011538 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05-24
• Released on: 2004-05-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 264 pages

Review
No more bed-time stories...these guys are here to wake you up. -- Greg Palast, author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy

Review
No more bed-time stories...these guys are here to wake you up. (Greg Palast, author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy)

About the Author
John Stauber (right) is founder and director of the Center for Media & Democracy. He and Sheldon Rampton write and edit the quarterly PR Watch: Public Interest Reporting on the PR/Public Affairs Industry. They are the bestselling authors of Weapons of Mass Deception, Toxic Sludge is Good for You! , and Trust Us, We're Experts! In 2001, the National Council of Teachers of English gave Rampton and Stauber its annual George Orwell Award for exposing the use of doublespeak in American life.

Customer Reviews

Well-documented and quite FRIGHTENING
This book was a very compelling look at the well-organized machine that is the right. I was impressed with how well-documented the book was, using the words of those on the right to make the case.

Those that criticize the book will have to refute an awful lot of quotes and facts by their conservative friends. With all the quotes, citations and endnotes, I don't know how one COULD refute the general claims of this book.

What was most frightening for me in this book was the push by the right to completely "wipe them [the left or the democrats] off the face of the planet." This quote by David Horowitz, political strategist for the right, is telling. As the book points out, for the Democrats, politics is a debate between two opposing camps or schools of thought. For the Republicans, it is a war for dominance. I am frightened by a group that does not welcome discourse, especially when that group is so powerful politically and economically. Squashing the political opponent seems very anti-American to me.

Read this book. Then vote.

Salutory
The country has been so bombarded for deacdes by the claim that the media is liberal, readers like the one from Syracuse believe it, ignoring the power, reach and influence of the Wall Street Journal; talk radio, especially Rush Limbaugh; and MSNBC and Fox. Furthermore, the campaign has shifted all media rightward. But even Republicans have admitted the claims of a liberal media are a shell game, and a brilliantly successful one at that. This book and David Brock's The Republican Noise Machine and Eric Alterman's What Liberal Media should be read by all citizens who want to maintain and strengthen American democracy.

An important book
like the other books by Rampton/Stauber, this one cuts thru the lies that the common man is constantly bombarded with by big, corporate owned media and politicians who are in the pockets of big money corporations. Turn off FOX and CNN and Clearchannel and other "news" sources which are owned by billionairres and require that you only hear their side so they can wage their wars and abuse populations for the sake of their bottom line. Wake up america... you're brainwashed... just look at the last review. Pew poll, indeed. Come on, read something Rupert Murdock wouldn't approve of.

A great book... get their others too.